The Comments in J. Mallozzi's Blog

[Shipperahoy]

I believe that people have the right to criticize Joe's work, it's put forth for the public and therefore is open game, but as others have said I do believe that there is a way to do so especially when the man is taking time out of his busy schedule in order to bring us information on the show and to answer our questions when he is certainly under no obligation to do so. Also, I tend not to take people's criticisms as seriously when they hide under a cloak of anonymity. I imagine that it's harder to call someone's work drivel when you have your name attatched to it for the world to see.

[ShadowMaat]

Also, I tend not to take people's criticisms as seriously when they hide under a cloak of anonymity. I imagine that it's harder to call someone's work drivel when you have your name attatched to it for the world to see.

Amen. Anyone too cowardly to put their name onto a vitriolic post isn't worth listening to, in my opinion. And if you can't put your name to something, chances are you KNOW that it's wrong and doesn't deserve to be posted.

[scifiannie]

I think the blame-the-Scapers thing can be pinned on a few individuals who go out of their way to make everyone around them (including other Scapers) insane. They're the ones who give the rest of their fandom a bad name. They're among the weasels in the jet engine and on the ground you can see all the other little weasels shaking their heads in disgust.

I guess I haven't been following the threads where scapers are blamed for anything--or where they've gone over the top, so to speak--but I do want to say that the show MUST have had them in mind when they hired BB. Besides his talent, he brings an established fan base with him. That had to be taken into consideration. If his fans are upset, maybe it's because they feel there's a bit of bait and switch going on with the show. The show promoted the heck out of him and then didn't really develop his role. Not saying anyone should express themselves in a nasty way, but that IS a legitimate point of view. And calling folks "weasels" is...well...kind of the opposite of nice.

[Jace021903]

I am all for expressing an opinion either positive or negative--I am quite opinionated myself on certain topics, but there is such a thing as common courtesy.

Big changes do tend to make people a little edgy; the same thing happened at the end of season 5. But it's really discouraging to see the amount of vemon that is being directed at fans who don't agree with a particular point of view, or writers who don't write the preferred storyline, or actors who don't say the correct thing in interviews. Bashing real people over a fictional show doesn't compute to me. There are ways to make points without making it personal.

I agree with Skydiver: it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

Jace

[stargate barbie]

personally, i love joe, and have a huge amount of respect for both the man himself and his work. i appreciate very much how he devotes so much time to his fans, and even though i aspire to be a film maker i know that joe and most if not all of his colleagues have more talent in their shoelaces than i will ever have.

i was offline for a good few months and only rejoined the thread recently, and found myself quite surprised in the change of the forums general aura. i usually find GW to be the most positive of the forums i've visited, and tend to limit myself to here as a result, but there does seem to be increasing negativity in the air here lately and i think in some cases people are lashing out at the nearest target, unfortunately in a lot of cases that seems to end up being JM, whom i believe to be completely undeserving of this.

hopefully this is just a passing phase and things will improve.

can't we all just get along!?!

[Shipperahoy]

I guess I haven't been following the threads where scapers are blamed for anything--or where they've gone over the top, so to speak--but I do want to say that the show MUST have had them in mind when they hired BB. Besides his talent, he brings an established fan base with him. That had to be taken into consideration. If his fans are upset, maybe it's because they feel there's a bit of bait and switch going on with the show. The show promoted the heck out of him and then didn't really develop his role. Not saying anyone should express themselves in a nasty way, but that IS a legitimate point of view. And calling folks "weasels" is...well...kind of the opposite of nice.

I absolutely agree that TPTB had Farscape fans in mind when hiring Ben Browder as a series regular. It would be unrealistic for them not to take into consideration that he comes with a built in fan base. I was and am a huge Farscape fan (though I was a Stargate fan first since SG came first chronologically) and was really looking forward to seeing what Ben would bring to Stargate and yet at the same time worrying whether or not he would be John Crichton redux. While I am satisfied thus far that they aren't trying to recreate his Farscape role I am far from satisfied with the character development, or lack thereof. Babylon was the first time this season that spent any kind of time letting the viewers see what kind of a person Mitchell is. I have hope that they will continue developing his character as the season progresses but I think it was a tactical mistake on their part to basically ignore him the first part of the season.

[jonno]

hopefully this is just a passing phase and things will improve.

can't we all just get along!?!

hear hear. After the response in this thread, i'm glad to say my confidence is being restored in Gateworld. It seems most of the GW population is the same as ever.
Thank God (or Apophis if you prefer)

[stargate barbie]

hear hear. After the response in this thread, i'm glad to say my confidence is being restored in Gateworld. It seems most of the GW population is the same as ever.
Thank God (or Apophis if you prefer)

nah, its just cos i'm back. the forum missed me so much, it just fell apart. now i'm here again, and everyone will become daisy picking puppy hugging folk who run into each others arms in wide open meddows and all that ridiculous crap!

maybe we should start a TPTB/JM appreciation thread or something?

[ShadowMaat]

And calling folks "weasels" is...well...kind of the opposite of nice.

Weasels aren't evil creatures, they've just been made to seem that way by people.

I got the "weasels sucked into jet engines" thing from a funny saying (something to the effect of eagles soaring but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines). I could have picked something cute and fluffy like puppies, but then people would be outraged at the horrible cruelty of my post.

And the penguins were taking this loop off.

[Kara318]

I know Joe must take a HUGE amount of abuse from what we all comment about in general, but getting critisism from people who watch the show can actually help him correct any mistakes the majority of fans think he may make at certain points. It's always good to get feedback for everything, no matter how good or bad it may be in your opinion.

[Skydiver]

I also agree that ben was brought in very much with his fan base in consideration. and, personally, i think scifi is getting no little amount of satisfaction out of knowing that many of the 'you cancelled farscape you jerks, i will NEVER watch again' folks are, you guessed it, tuning in again

as to kara's comments, yes, there are times when i do think that spoilers are leaked to 'test the waters', and yes, i will express my opinon, be it pro or con...but again, it's all in HOW you say it.

I can tell you from all my years in customer service, who did i give my attention to??? it wasnt' the folks that called me names and yelled at me and were in my face nasty.

It was the folks who presented thier problems in an adult manner and were calm and reasonable.

[stargate barbie]

I know Joe must take a HUGE amount of abuse from what we all comment about in general, but getting critisism from people who watch the show can actually help him correct any mistakes the majority of fans think he may make at certain points. It's always good to get feedback for everything, no matter how good or bad it may be in your opinion.

feedback is one thing, so long as it's intelligent, well thought out, constructive, and respectful. harsh insults and critisism is an entirely different kettle of weasels. i don't get the whole you didn't tell me what i wanted to hear or give me what i wanted to see, so you suck! attitudes, for example.
i say, if you don't like the show then either switch it off, or go write your own, better show! or do both. if ya can't write a better show, then shut up! of course i would never actually tell someone to shut up seriously, because i actually have respect for my fellow people. now lets all sing some campfire songs!

[Ancient 61]

nah, its just cos i'm back. the forum missed me so much, it just fell apart. now i'm here again, and everyone will become daisy picking puppy hugging folk who run into each others arms in wide open meddows and all that ridiculous crap!

maybe we should start a TPTB/JM appreciation thread or something?

Great idea.

[Pitry]

The problem of the snarky, nasty comments is not jsut insulting Joe as a person who may or may not be responsible for the things that piss off people and ignoring manners, which is indeed a problem. I recall people saying that it seems TBTP have taken this year hte attitude of "We like it, it's great, don't like it - your problem" - well, Joe Mallozzi, like the rest of TBTP, is a human being and seems (to me, at least) a bit more on the sarcastic side. Once you've been rudely repeatedly insulted for every episode you've written or didn't write and every decision you made or didn't make, it stands to reason you'll start being snarky with all critisism, including the kind that's well placed, well aimed at you, and constructive, i.e you could actually learn from it. And you can defintiely see some of this attitude in his blog entries\ Ask Joe thread.

Scapers. Yep, TBTP knew Ben comes with a number of loyal fans - and epsecially the combination of Ben and Claudia. I think they also took into consideration the show continues to be Stargate. People have a right to watch the show merely because of Ben and Claudia. People have a right to find it boring, unimginative, mundane, etc etc etc, I'm not going to start quoting now. they have a right to say so, and a right to be heard. They should, however, also remember what board they say this on. It goes back to slagging off shipping on shipping threads, defending season 9 on the Anti-Season 9 thread, and the rest of Shadow's examples. These examples also apply to messageboards, which community you tell which opinions, and how you express these opinions, even in the "wrong" community. That also has a touch of manners in it.

T'is the same thing really. A small minority from each part - cos definitely most of hte Scapers are fun to have around here - but that can hurt the general discussion\population\ Furling sunbathe. Er.

[prion]

It's not fair to blame any testiness on farscape fans

i think a lot of it has a lot of causes

a) the makeup of the show has changed. rda left and that's just no fun for anyone who liked him or the character of jack o'neill

b) it also has bearing on the relationships that jack was involved in. kinda hard to have jack/daniel, jack/teal'c, jack/sam when half your ship is gone

c) we have two sets of 'new blood' which alters things

d) amanda was gone and we had vala for 5.5 episodes and she is definitely not a personality type that fans usually associate with stargate

e) the general drive/attitude of the show has changed

f) there have been additions to the writing staff

g) there have been changes in the command staff of the show

h) i personally have no doubt that scifi and mgm are sticking their noses in as well

all this contributes to a LOT of changes, some obvious, such as RDA's absence and BB's addition, and others not so obvious and more open to the individual perception and tastes of the individual viewers

and

i) fans who read what they want to into comments made by JM and other TPTB, and then when what they belive should have happened, doesn't, they feel betrayed (and yes, I have seen that word used in other forums - that the producers have betrayed them.

The fandom is old. As in the show's been on for a while and this seems to happen in all fandoms - that people suddenly become dissatisfied (for any of the above reasons or others) and start to vent.

You also get 'old time' fans who have no patience for newbies who ask simple questions, screeching "why don't you read the FAQ, you (insert insult)."

But it's not fair to blame Farscape fans. I don't know why folks can't see that people who are Stargate fans are also Farscape fans. You don't have to limit yourself to just one show.

But back to the topic, yes, people are snarky in the JM blog comments (and not just in the anonymous comments). It's never going to change as that's the way the internet is these days.